Apartheid didn’t bring peace

PETA KROST MAUNDER

It was, in essence, a one-upmanship battle, where the one side had no chance.

This week, Israel Apartheid Week runs rampant across the world. And in this case, the one side is accusing Israel of being no different to apartheid South Africa and the other side is saying this isn’t true.

Israel is accused by supporters of the ever-growing Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement of being the oppressor pushing the poor Palestinians down… to keep them down.

Well, that is what it is about, in its simplest form. In reality, it is way more complicated than that, not least of all because the world at large views the Palestinians as being oppressed and incapable of defending themselves against this ogre of an Israel. So, BDS and the Palestinians get the sympathy vote around the world.

That is, when you discount that the Palestinians are a part of the greater Arab world, which one would imagine makes them a whole lot stronger.

Then, one needs to take into account any relationship between the Palestinians, suicide bombers, the horrendously cruel ISIS and other overt terror organisations.

For me, though, I wonder about the real reason behind Israel Apartheid Week. Not having been party to any of this before, I am witnessing a week where hatred and ugliness towards “others” is perpetuated around the world. It feels like an excuse for people to say and do abhorrent things.

I don’t get it – not least of all because people behind this are saying they are doing this in the name of peace and the ability for all people to have the right to self-actualisation.

Sorry, but as far as I know, self-actualisation, peace and freedom do not emerge from venomous vitriol and threatening each other’s lives.

As far as I am concerned, it stems from being adults sitting across a table from one another and consciously seeking a peaceful and equitable solution.

But bringing out various “personalities” who will push a “cause” and make one side look better than the other, to those who have not yet decided, is not about peace. Instead, it is about one-upmanship and perpetuating differences and ensuring that one side is right and the other is wrong.

And while South Africa understands what apartheid is – having lived through it – it is a very emotive word here. For many people, it symbolises the evil that people can do to others. It is so much easier for most people to sympathise with the “underdog”, those people supposedly living under “apartheid” in Israel.

In truth, this loaded term is totally unfair in that the basis of the population and the division of power precludes any semblance of apartheid. But the term works to aggravate and incense people – both those who deny that Israel is an apartheid state and those who insist it is.

Around the world, though, the term may not be as loaded, but the anger and hatred is just as bad. Israel’s ambassador to France pleaded with the French government to ban Israel Apartheid Week there because of the heightened anti-Semitism. This didn’t happen and so France opened itself to the threat of ugly racial violence.

At what point are all sides going to get that rather than fighting, showing how your difference is better than my difference and my way of thinking is better than yours, doesn’t have any positive impact for anyone? We have to try and find similarities, common grounds and ways we can work together. It is enough looking for reasons to fight and about time to find solutions and paths to peace.

Yes, I know how many times Middle East leaders have sat around tables to find peaceful solutions and they haven’t managed to. So, does that mean we stop and rather focus on proving the other side is the beast? That simply doesn’t make any sense to me.

Stop fighting and start finding a way towards peace!

In the meantime, so many young students at South African universities and others around the world are scared to go to their lectures for fear they will fall victim to Israel Apartheid Week’s perpetrators. Something is wrong with that!

Peta Krost Maunder

Editor